—all these and more will be up for grabs as Congress begins re-writing
the Telecommunications Act of 1996 this year. Likewise, the Federal
Communications Commission and even your local town or city council will
be facing choices that will determine who gets to communicate what, to
whom, over what medium during this “digital century.”

How, for
example, will policy makers choose to define “public interest,
convenience, and necessity,” a concept enshrined in U.S. communications
law since 1934? Or will we see a rejection of a concept that has
obliged the electronic media to serve the country?

Will we
have a communications environment that reflects the highest aspirations
of a democratic culture, including equality, diversity, and civic
expression? Or one that serves primarily as an inter?active vending
machine for the latest products of Big Media and Madison Avenue?

The
stakes have never been higher. The major media and telecommunications
companies are lobbying for even greater corporate control. But we the
people can change America's “digital destiny” by promoting positive
change in these ten areas:

1. Call for less, not more, media consolidation:

The
bland homogeneity of commercial radio—dominated by Clear Channel,
Infinity, et al—may soon be coming to TV sets and newsstands near you
as media conglomerates seek to further consolidate their ownership of
media outlets. Fox, NBC, Sinclair, and others are asking Congress to
rewrite the Telecommunications Act, sweeping away limits on the number
of media outlets they can control. You can join with Free Press, Common
Cause, Mediachannel, Reclaim the Media, Media Tank, Media Alliance, and
others opposing media consolidation (find contact information in the
Resource Guide that follows).

2. Build Community Broadband:

Broadband
Internet access has replaced dial-up as the preferred means of reaching
the Internet, but such connections (controlled by cable and local
telephone companies) remain beyond the reach of many households. In
response, towns across the United States are building “wi-fi” and other
high-speed networks that make affordable Internet access available
to homes as well as to schools, businesses, government agencies, and
non-profits. Comcast, Verizon, and other monopoly broadband providers
are lobbying to prevent competition from these municipal networks. You
can organize your town to create a local network that puts the public
before profits.

3. Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine:

For
decades, broadcasters were required to offer diverse perspectives on
important issues. But the broadcasters lobbied to kill what was called
the “Fairness Doctrine,” giving rise to the lopsided news, analysis,
and talk shows we have today. Representative Louise Slaughter of New
York and others are working to restore some balance to broadcasting by
restoring the Fairness Doctrine (see www.fairnessdoctrine.com).

4. Open Up the Cable TV Monopoly:

Companies
like Comcast and Time Warner control access to the majority of TV
channels available to the seven out of 10 U.S. households that
subscribe to cable television. But it's almost impossible for
independent programmers and alternative channels to gain entry. Much of
the work of increasing access and community accountability of the cable
companies takes place at the local level, where a few people can make a
big difference. One great model is Media Tank.

5. Restore Public Airwaves to the Public:

Just
as you can't own or sell the air we breathe, the airwaves belong to all
of us. But because the broadcast spectrum is worth many billions of
dollars, broadcasters and phone companies are actively lobbying to
privatize this public resource. The future of an open Internet depends
on the public's ability to use the spectrum, since more space will be
needed for the burgeoning wireless networking movement. To learn more,
see the New America Foundation's guide to spectrum policy at www.newamerica.net.

6. Claim Your Right to Information and Culture:

Creativity,
culture, and learning build on the information and creative expressions
of others. With increasingly restrictive “intellectual property” laws,
even excerpting material for educational purposes, for example, or
making copies for personal use are threatened by the law called the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Thus while information may “want to
be free,” the recording industry, Hollywood, and the TV industry want
to make sure we pay for everything. Groups like Public Knowledge and
the Electronic Freedom Foundation are representing the public interest
in the digital copyright debates. Learn more at www.publicknowledge.org and www.eff.org.

7. Make Public Broadcasting Truly Public:

Noncommercial
public service media are endangered species. In an age of powerful
consumerism, we need more, not less, not-for-profit media. Citizens for
Independent Public Broadcasting (Editor's note: as of 2008, this organization's Web site has gone dormant)
is working to ensure that the impending transition to digital
television will bring more opportunities for community participation.
You can also challenge your local PBS and NPR station to do more local
programming.

8. Choose Open-Source Software Solutions:

A
major barrier to many people who would like to produce programming for
the electronic media has been the sheer expense of broadcast-quality
production. Now, low-cost digital alternatives are increasingly
available. While there are differences of opinion concerning the merits
of “open-source” (www.opensource.org) versus “free” (www.gnu.org)
software, the two camps are united in their opposition to the
bottlenecks and toll roads created by the proprietary products. Don't
let our media future be ruled by Microsoft!

9. Keep Broadband Open:

Big telephone and cable companies want to alter the Internet's basic
DNA of openness and diversity by controlling the “last
mile” that links your home and business to the Internet. The
debate over open access—whether broadband providers must allow users to
choose any Internet service provider and any Internet content —has
finally reached the Supreme Court, which will hear the issue this
spring. Learn more about this issue from the Media Access Project at www.mediaaccess.org.

10. Support Alternative Media:

The mainstream media are by nature driven by advertising revenues and
ensnared in corporate politics. That's why organizations such as Alternet, Democracy Now!, Free Speech TV, members of the Independent Press Association (including this magazine), and others are so vital, offering the public diverse viewpoints without fear or favor.

Jeff Chester is the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (www.democraticmedia.org). Gary O. Larson is a writer/researcher at the Center for Digital Democracy.